Breaducation: Maple Biscuits

Ever peek into a bakery’s window to catch a glimpse of bread in the making? Curious as to how the Country French on the shelf gets so golden? The baguette, so crunchy? The Olive Bread, so … so … fluffy? Forget peeking. How about a front row seat?

We created “Breaducation” to open the blinds and show you how our bakery makes our most popular breads.

And now, we’ve decided to give our Instagram Story series a permanent, published space. This way, whenever you’re curious about how bread is made and why we employ specific techniques, you won’t be limited to a disappearing story – or peeking through the windows.

Pull out your jam. Here’s everything you need to know about our Vermont Maple Biscuits!

Vermont Maple Biscuits

You know them, and you might just love them. And though we can’t disclose the recipe at this time, we can illuminate the process.

We start by measuring out milk and local maple syrup. This creates what is essentially liquid gold. If you know, you know.

Next up: the dry ingredients. We combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. We add shredded cold butter into the mix. For the flakiest results, it’s crucial to work with cold butter. If the fat warms up, it’ll become oily and get worked into the dough. This will work against us and our goal of achieving a tower of layers.

Once we’ve prepped our ingredients, it’s time to mix. We pour the milk and maple mixture into the dry ingredients, and then we incorporate the components gently with a spatula. Avoid over mixing. Even though, we get it, it may be tempting to mix-mix-mix until the flour has been fully hydrated. But, patience is rewarded in the process of biscuits. It’s okay if the dough appears to be a little bit dry.

Avoid overmixing. The dough will come together with each fold.

The folding process is where we’ll create our layers. We pat the shaggy dough together and complete a fold. After, we roll it out, repeating the fold-and-roll process four or five times.

The folding process is where we’ll create our layers. We pat the shaggy dough together and complete a fold. After, we roll it out, repeating the fold-and-roll process four or five times.

It’s time to cut some biscuits!

Layer Cam: All those shards of cold butter mean a flaky Vermont Maple Biscuit is imminent.

Before baking, the biscuits are brushed with an egg wash. This helps us achieve a nice, deep, dark golden color. After cooling, they’re glossed with maple syrup.